I love you, brother
by KawaiiCutie12
Summary: Just another heated argument between the royal brothers. Nothing new right? Well, when Mufasa's anger gets the best of him and things get taken too far, he tries to make it up to Scar by taking care of his brother, who has fallen ill


**Hey hoes ;p JK JK don't kill me XD Anywayysss, I recently rediscovered my love for Lion King, and so here's a quick oneshot (I've got a new story LK coming up soon)**

**Lion King ****©️ Disney **

**OC's ©️ me**

**"Caring for my big brother"**

In the beautiful continent of Africa, there was a gorgeous area known as the Pridelands. These lands have been there for many centuries, and were ruled by only the most royal of Lions.

One of them being King Mufasa, the son of former King Ahadi and Queen Uru.

He was usually a kindhearted, generous, and fair ruler that was respectful to everyone.

Except at this moment.

"Scar, why must you always dwell on the past?"

Scar, formerly known as Taka, rolled his eyes. Even as an adult lion, his little brother was still just as annoying**(*)**.

"Well, your majesty, has it occurred to you that I was constantly pushed aside, simply because Father despised me?"

Mufasa sighed. He loved Scar dearly, but that hardhead of his was gonna get him nowhere in life.

"He loved us both equally. And if you weren't so stubborn-"

"Maybe I wouldn't be stubborn if you guys actually cared to listen!" Scar snapped, "he didn't bother to hear me out when I explained that not all hyenas are bad, and he sure as hell didn't care about exiling me, so why should I care about his death date?"

Mufasa felt his anger growing. Just because Ahadi was stubborn, doesn't mean he didn't care.

"Stop this, Scar! You're acting like a cub!" he roared.

"Oh my, did I strike a cord?" the dark maned lion sneered, "that's what's wrong with you, Mufasa. You can't ever seem to accept when someone's wrong."

"I am more than capable of accepting when I am wrong," Mufasa snapped, "I can't say the same for you.

"Oh really?" Scar glared at him, "you have the nerve to say that, after you ruined my life!"

"That was all your doing!" Mufasa's defensive side was starting to boil over. "You knew what the consequences would be, yet you still went along with it!"

"Like how you went along with telling him my little secret?"

"That's enough, Scar," the golden lion growled darkly.

"No Mufasa, I don't think it is," he snapped, "you were always daddy's little boy, didn't care about anyone else as long as you were fine, didn't bother to check up on me when I was exiled, ratted my friends and I out-"

His bright emerald eyes held a murderous anger. "All he's done was ruined my life, so fuck him. Fuck King Ahadi-"

Time seemed to stop as Mufasa pounced on him, slightly cutting off his oxygen supply.

"SILENCE!"

Scar tried to get out of his brother's grip, but Mufasa put his whole weight onto him.

He looked at him.

Furious brown eyes locking into just as furious, but also fearful, green eyes; he might've been older, but Mufasa was way stronger.

"Now you listen here, brother," Mufasa whispered in a deadly tone, "Father may not have been the perfect king, or even a perfect father, but you are not gonna disrespect him, especially not in front on me."

"Get off...of me..." Scar managed to choke out.

Mufasa pushed him down harder. "Understand?"

"Y-Yes."

He got off his brother, who immediately began coughing and gasping for air.

Scar turned and glared daggers at him "The bloody hell is wrong with you!"

Mufasa lost his temper and returned the look. "I won't stand for anyone to hurt my family or anyone I care about, that's all!" Once he realized what he said, he instantly regretted it.

The silence was so heavy, you physically felt a pressure on your chest. Even Scar looked surprised (and a bit hurt) for a brief moment. He walked away, ignoring Mufasa's attempts to take it back.

"Scar, brother, I... I didn't mean it. I-"

"You know, Mufasa-"

He turned to look him in the eye, an emotionless expression painted on his face, unlike Mufasa's guilty and saddened expression. "For someone that claims to care about family so much, you don't seem to care that he not only abused me, but is the _real_ reason Mom is dead."

Mufasa would've demanded what he meant, had Zazu not flown in right there.

"Sire, you're needed at Pride Rock."

Mufasa's anger evaporated and he turned to Zazu. "What's the problem?"

"Simba's under the weather, and wants his dad," Zazu told him.

"I'll be right there." He turned to Scar's direction, only to see he was gone. He sighed, and followed Zazu.

_What am I gonna do with him?_

Back home, he approached Sarabi, who was cuddling a pale looking cub.

"How is he?" He looked down at him.

Sarabi sighed. "Not too good, he barely held down the zebra."

Mufasa's eyes widened slightly. He walked over and crouched down.

"Simba?" He nudged him softly.

The little cub slowly turned his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes.

"D-Dad?" he croaked.

"It's alright, Simba, I'm here."

He carefully cradled his son, who shivered as he wrapped him in his arms.

"E-Everywhere hurts, dad," Simba whimpered.

Mufasa shushed him, and moved his paw in circular motions on his back. "It's okay, son, I've got you."

Sarabi watched as her son was being cuddled by her dad. She heard movement being her, and turned to see Sarafina, walking up towards her.

She looked at the prince. "How's Simba?"

Sarabi sighed. "Still sick," she said wearily, before turning to look at her. "How about Nala?"

Sarafina looked back and sighed. She turned to Sarabi. "Just as sick as earlier.

This made Mufasa, and even Simba, look up to the lionesses.

"N-Nala's sick too?" Simba forced out.

Sarafina smiled sadly. "Yeah little buddy, she's in the same boat as you right now."

Mufasa frowned. Something didn't sit right with him. How could the cubs have gotten sick so easily and quickly? Yeah, they were younger, but they were simply playing in the meadows. Nothing could've gotten them sick. Unless...

"Sarafina, take Simba with you for a moment."

The lionesses watched as Mufasa stood up, and walked over to Sarabi.

"Come with me, Sarabi," Mufasa motioned, "something doesn't seem right."

As the royal couple walked out the cave, Sarafina grabbed Simba by the scruff. Despite not being hers, she loved Simba as if he were her son, and would protect him just as she would Nala.

In the meadows, Sarabi and Mufasa looked around for anything strange. They searched everywhere, from the front of Pride Rock, up to where the shadowed places began to appear. Still, they found nothing.

"That's odd," Mufasa commented, "there's nothing out of the ordinary.

Sarabi sighed and looked at Mufasa. "Has it occured to you that maybe it's just a bug?"

Mufasa's cheeks began to color. "Well...it just came out of nowhere, I thought..."

Sarabi chuckled and nuzzled him. "Please, if Mufasa is anything like his father, he'll recover before you know it."

Mufasa smiled. Sarabi always knew what to say, hence why he was his best friend, wife, and mate.

"You're right, this was a little bit ridiculous." He brought a paw to his head and rubbed it sheepishly.

The two soon burst into laughter, and head bumped each other before heading back up Pride Rock. As they approached the area Sarafina was at, they noticed Rafiki pouring something from a coconut into Simba's mouth. They quickly ran over and saw Nala being fed the same thing by her mother.

"Rafiki, what happened?" Sarabi tried not to panick.

"Deir stomachs were acting up, das all," he reassured them.

Sarafina handed him back the coconut shell.

He faced all three adult lions with reassurance live on his face. "Let de youngins rest for e while. Dey should be betta in no time."

They nodded. "Thank you, Rafiki,"

Rafiki just smiled and left.

The couple turned to Sarafina. "What happened while we were gone?" Sarabi questioned her with genuine worry.

Sarafina sighed. "Well...Simba was sick again, and I tried to give him some of the medicine we had, but he brought it back up as well, and not even a moment later, the same scenario happened to Nala. I started to panic, so I called Rafiki, explain the situation, and that's when you guys came."

"Mm."

Mufasa went over and grabbed Simba by the scruff.

Sarabi looked to him, then back at Sarafina. "Thank you for watching Simba." She nuzzled her head, and Sarafina returned the gesture.

"Hope your little one gets better." She gestured to Nala

"And yours too," Sarafina smiled.

The royal couple took their son home, and prayed it was just a mild bug. That didn't seem to be the case, however.

It had been three weeks, and by now most of the lions in the Pridelands have fallen ill. For some odd reason, they all seemed to have the same symptoms that Simba did.

Mufasa was getting worried. He didn't know how to stop this, and his son and best friend were still in terrible condition. Another thought occurred to him: Was his brother okay? Yes they argued, but he still looked up to him and loved him deeply, and would never forgive himself if something happened to him.

"Sire!"

He turned to see Zazu, looking more frantic than ever. "What's the matter, Zazu?"

"Rafiki needs to speak with you!"

He was ready to jump down when he saw Rafiki already climbing up Pride Rock, with the help of his stick.

"Mufasa, de zebras are contaminted with a sickness. Anyone dat eats it will get de same sickness."

He sighed in relief, then stopped. "...then how come Sarabi and I haven't gotten sick?"

Rafiki thought for a moment. "You have contracted dis same disease when you were a mere adolescent, so now you are immune to dis; I believe de same has happened with de queen."

Mufasa nodded, remembering now, but that same thought came crawling back to him.

Coincidentally, Rafiki had more surprising news.

"Dat brodder of yours seems to have fallen ill as well, however" he whispered into the lion's ear, "Follow ol' Rafiki."

He followed his friend as he explained more, heart racing so fast he physically felt out of breathe.

When they reached the shaman's tree, he saw Scar curled in a fetal-like position on a cot made of leaves, asleep. He noticed the fairly large bucket by the cot, and Rafiki seemed to sense his question.

"I found him in his den...losing his lunch," Rafiki hesitantly and quietly admitted to Mufasa, "he kept doing so on the way here; when we arrived here, he said he was still feeling nauseous, but since I didn't have the medicine at the time, I told him to sleep it off."

Mufasa's worry seemed to skyrocket after hearing that. He watched as Rafiki put a hand to Scar's head, getting a moan from the lion.

"His feva is high," Rafiki noted, looking at Mufasa worriedly, "any higha and it may be fatal."

Mufasa edged closer to him and nudged him like he did Simba. "Brother?"

Scar slowly opened his eyes, then frowned. "W-What do you want?"

In all the years he'd known Scar, he'd never seen him so...helpless. He always toughed things out, so for him to go to Rafiki, or anyone for that matter, he knew his brother had to be in a great deal of pain; he even looked pale, and his cheeks were flushed.

Mufasa didoed his face, while turning to Rafiki. "Is he going to be okay?"

Rafiki flashed him a smile. "In time, yes."

Mufasa sighed in relief, while Scar moaned in pain. Suddenly, he sat up, leaned over the side of the cot, and coughed up whatever was in his system, startling the other two.

Mufasa's and Rafiki's mouths were agape, but for different reasons.

"Scar," Rafiki began, "dat was de sixth time dat had happened."

"So?" he weakly grumbled.

"So dat is not good!" Rafiki exclaimed.

He ran over, grabbed a coconut half with mashed fruit in it, and put it in front of him.

"Drink it," he commanded.

Scar grumbled, but forced the putrid mush down his throat, nearly throwing it back up on the old monkey.

Rafiki turned to Mufasa, who still looked a bit fearful.

"Keep an eye on him while I go to fetch more water. De medicine is by da other shell, which he'll have to take with water," he instructed the king, who only nodded.

Rafiki left the tree, humming an old tune, leaving the brothers alone.

Scar rolled his eyes and turned around, to Mufasa's disappointment. "If you're just gonna stand there and stare at me, you can go back to your important _kingly_ matters."

"Scar, you're my big brother, and you're sick. Whether you like it or not, I'm staying."

And he was right. He heard Mufasa come towards the bed, and he sighed.

"You really don't have to do this," he tried again, "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself; besides, aren't you going to get sick as well?"

"Actually...both Sarabi and I contracted this before," he informed him, "he said it'll pass like normal food poisoning."

Silence. Well, until Scar groaned.

"What was he even going to grab?" Scar wondered aloud.

"I honestly wasn't listening," Mufasa shrugged.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Scar muttered while rolling his eyes.

They lied there in silence. It wasn't awkward or comforting, just silence.

"Can I ask you something?"

Scar looked up (or, well, turned and looked) at the golden lion.

"...I suppose."

Mufasa looked him in the eye. "...do you ever think about our cubhood?"

This definitely caught Scar off guard. He wasn't sure what he expected, but it definitely wasn't that. But he knew he couldn't keep his brother waiting.

"At times yes," Scar finally admitted.

"And my next question: What did you mean, Father had to do with Mother's death?"

Now with this question, the first one felt like nothing. This one, however, felt as if he'd been punched and slashed in the stomach repeatedly.

To the point where he began to feel queasy.

His stomach churned once more; he looked down and brought a paw to his face, earning a worried look from his brother.

"Brother, what's going on?" He quickly rushed over to his side.

"That mush didn't agree with me," he groaned, but shortly after started to turn green** (As weird as that sounds ****XDDD)**

"Are you gonna be sick again?"

"I-"

An intense wave of nausea hit and he found himself spewing out not just the mush he had drunk not too long ago, but the zebra that had caused his sickness in the first place. Mufasa moved his paw in circular motions on his back as he held him, pitying his brother at the moment, who was trembling like a leaf in wind; unbeknownst to each other, as ironically bad as the situation was, this brought back another memory of their cubhood.

Mufasa felt a stab of both sympathy and guilt. Here he was, bombarding his brother with questions, while he was completely under the weather.

He sighed. "Forget it, you don't have to answer me now."

It was silent for a minute.

"The monkey told you, didn't he?"

Mufasa looked up, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm _talking about_," he answered irritated, "my little..._episode_ earlier."

Mufasa now understood. By the sound of his voice, that minor piece of information was supposed to be confidential; the fact that his gaze was down only confirmed it more.

He sighed. "There's nothing to be ashamed of brother-"

"Easy for you to say!" he snapped, "you never got sick as often."

Mufasa frowned. "Everyone feels bad, especially to that extent, from time to time. It's really nothing to be embarrassed about."

Scar didn't say anything, too miserable to keep arguing. He turned to his side, facing away from his brother.

There was that damned silence again, minus Scar's constant groaning. This time, it was a bit awkward. Mufasa felt useless; he didn't know how to help him, and he wasn't sure if Scar would even accept the help (Not that he had much of a choice).

He walked over to a bucket of water that was sitting by Rafiki's medicines. He took the shell, filled it up, mixed in the medicine, and stood in front of Scar, careful not to knock down the bucket containing his stomach contents.

"Here, drink the medicine," he offered Scar through his teeth.

He looked at his younger brother for a bit, then slowly sat up. He'd never say it aloud, but he was thankful for the water (despite the taste of the medicine), and for once, it stayed down.

"I'll be back; I'm going to go empty out that bucket for you."

He bit the handle, and tried to ignore the rotten smell. As he lowered himself down, he heard Scar sigh.

Scar was lying there, wishing the pain would pass faster. He heard someone climbing up, and turned his head just in time to see his golden furred brother climbing in; he mentally frowned.

"I still don't get why you're doing this," Scar said as he put his head down.

"I already told you. You're my brother, and you're sick."

"So? I've been sick before, and nobody's seemed to care this much, why now?"

Mufasa didn't reply for a moment. In fact, he didn't move or say anything for a moment.

Then he looked up.

Scar could see so many emotions swimming in his eyes.

Anger.

Sadness.

Hurt.

Betrayal?

_Empathy? _

And the biggest one:

Regret.

"Let me tell you something," Mufasa began, in an unnaturally low voice, "when we were cubs, Ahadi hated you. I was never allowed to go near you and try to comfort you, and he would even get mad at Mother for taking care of you."

Scar remembered all too well. He and their mother, Queen Uru, were always close. Even now, it was like he could hear her voice speaking to him, smell her scent, and feel her warm, motherly touch.

He let Mufasa continue. "He hated you, simply because you weren't biologically his. But Mother and I still loved you the same, because technically, we still shared some DNA.

And it upset me. Aside from Mother and Sarabi, I felt like you were the only person that actually cared for me, and that I could trust, regardless of our differences. I know you may not think it, but aside from Mother's death, you getting exiled was the worst day of my life."

Scar looked up at him in shock. He knew Mufasa cared about him...but not to this extent. There was something else off too.

Why did he refer to his father as "Ahadi" and "he/him", but not "Father"?

"I wasn't able to check up on you often, and make sure you were safe and healthy. Even when you were still there, he would just look at me in disgust for trying to cheer you up when you were down, or made stupid excuses when I tried to help Mother care for you. We used to always play with each other, defend each other, and look out for each other. We were the best of friends, and I felt, and still feel, like a terrible brother for letting his mere threats get in between us."

Scar, for once, took in those words. He never saw Mufasa this emotional before (well, aside from when he snuck him to Uru's burial spot).

"But now that he's gone-" Mufasa glanced up, and his ruby eyes locked with Scar's emerald eyes. "I won't let that happen. I'll be there for you, and I will repair our bond."

He looked down again. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did; even though we only share DNA from our maternal side, you've always been there when I needed you. You're more family to me than he has ever been."

He lowered his voice. "Especially after he started to hurt me."

Luck wasn't on his side, because Scar heard him clear as day.

_"What?"_ he shouted. Bad choice.

Dizziness floaded him, and he dropped his head immediately.

"There were days where I'd be upset, since you weren't around for me to play with. Anytime I'd tell Fath-Ahadi, he would beat me, or even just use me as his own punching bag whenever something upset him."

"Mufasa..."

Suddenly, he collapsed onto his side, revealing his underbelly.

Scar was lost, until he looked closer and saw the saw the large gashes.

"When did that happened?" Scar whispered.

"...The day I snuck you in." Mufasa looked down. "I don't know how he knew, but he nearly lost it when he found out."

Scar watched as he rolled back, wincing slightly. He felt something in his chest.

Something he hadn't felt in a long time, ever since his mother died.

Sadness, and empathy.

Full

Blown

Empathy.

So much, that he genuinely wanted to comfort his little brother, like he had done to him when they were younger. But he didn't have time to say or react in any way, because he began talking again.

"You know, I guess it's a good thing this happened," Mufasa smiled bitterly, making Scar shudder.

"Mufasa, are you cra-"

"No, Scar," he interrupted, then looked at him once more, with those determined, sad, yet hopeful eyes.

"Because of this, I understood. Not fully, but enough to see why you despised him. And I'm sorry I couldn't do anything about it. I'm sorry I was a terrible brother. I-no, _we_ promised to protect each other, and I couldn't hold my end of the bargain-"

His voice wavered. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to keep his emotions in check.

"You won't believe me, but I really do regret what I said when we last spoke. You were my brother then, and you still are now. Even if we _didn't_ share any DNA and you were just a rogue, I'd still see you as my big brother. I'm sorry about what I said a while back. You _are_ family, and I love you, Taka."

Scar didn't know what to say; the shock of the whole scenario was too much. Not that he had to, because shortly after he felt a paw to his head.

"Your fever's lowering," the red maned lion commented.

Scar soon heard him plop next to him, exhausted. He too felt that way, but it hit him harder due to the sickness.

He rested his head on Mufasa, catching him off guard; he caught a glimpse of his face out of the corners of his eyes.

He smirked. "What? Shouldn't the king always help those in need, especially the sickly, and _especially_ if the sickly happen to be one of their loved ones?"

Mufasa rolled his eyes while chuckling. Even with declining health, he still was his sarcastic self. "Sleep well, brother."

As his brother slowed his breathing, he stroked his mane, causing him to purr. Soon, the king himself began to feel tired, so he rested his head onto his paws.

"...Love you too, Muffy."

Mufasa looked at him from the corner of his eyes, shocked. He felt his heart swell with not just joy, but pure nostalgia.

_Maybe we can fix our bond after all. Maybe there's still some Taka within Scar._

Rafiki came back not too long after. He smiled as the two brothers slept close to each other.

"So it seems de two brodders are coming togetha again," he said aloud.

He looked out into the opening of his tree. "If only you were here to see this Uru."

A warm breeze flowed in, and Rafiki smiled; unbeknownst to him, the two lions also smiled in their sleep.

**KawaiiCutie12: Here ya guys go! Hope u guys love it!**

**1) ****Sooo this story was inspired by a story written by Smaragd Witch (that was unfortunately deleted).** **You guys should check out her story "Under the scar". **

**1.5) Yes, I know in the film, Mufasa is older, but I loved her idea of having Scar/Taka be Mufasa's older half-brother, (which would give Ahadi a..."good" reason to not like him) But yeah.**

**2) Rafiki's speech is typed like that because that's how he talks in the movie(s). So yeahh. Here y'all go. byeee *hugs and kisses* ****:))** **xxoo**


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